“LONELY VOICES” — McConnell downplays Republican support for Putin
With some Republicans — and Fox News — still parroting Russian propaganda about the war in Ukraine, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is embarrassed enough to try to downplay what rogue GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) calls the “Putin Wing” of the Republican Party.
In an appearance this morning on CBS News’s Face The Nation, Senator McConnell pooh-poohed the vociferous blatherings of the extremist Republican representatives such as Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) — who has spoken up against providing funding to help Ukraine fight Russia in a war that they “cannot possibly win” — and Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) — who recently assisted Russian propagandists by calling Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky “a thug.”
McConnell dismissed those who haven’t wholeheartedly placed their support with Ukraine as “a few lonely voices off to the side,” and basically told the world that these folks are not worth paying any attention to.
Always sensitive to the political winds, McConnell tried to leap ahead of the Biden administration, criticizing it for not moving quickly enough to deliver aid to Ukraine.
It was a valiant —if disgustingly cynical — attempt at image repair after 31 Senate Republicans voted against a comprehensive $1.5 trillion spending bill that included $13.6 billion in money dedicated to Ukraine assistance just last week.
McConnell tried to cover up for that telling vote by insisting that nearly all GOP senators would have voted for a stand-alone Ukraine aid bill if it had been offered.
The Senate Minority Leader is essentially trying to say that all of the “lonely voices” of Pro-Putin Republicans are the problem of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), particularly after eight members of the GOP House delegation voted against a bill to halt normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.
In case you missed who these honorary members of Putin’s army of Republican apologists were, here’s the list:
- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia
- Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida
- Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado
- Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky
- Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona
- Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina
- Rep. Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin
- Rep. Chip Roy of Texas
McConnell can try to dismiss these errant party members as outliers, but the names include some of the biggest stars of right-wing media and some of the defacto-party leader Donald Trump’s most loyal supporters.
One can only hope that the GOP Senate leader’s casual put-down of the extremist wing of his party indicates disunity amongst Republicans that will help fracture the party and hurt its chances of winning back a majority in any branch of government in the future.
One can dream, can’t one?
You can watch a clip of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s appearance on Face The Nation in the video excerpt below.
Mitch McConnell downplays the GOP's pro-Putin wing as merely an issue of a few "lonely voices" in the House pic.twitter.com/UgMAEQNJK3
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 20, 2022
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RELATED STORY: ENOUGH! Marjorie Taylor Greene is spreading lies again, and Liz Cheney isn’t having it
